


Keep Fighting

by eveshka



Series: Tales of the Dawn King [10]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-16 01:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10561166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eveshka/pseuds/eveshka
Summary: Just keep fighting





	

**Author's Note:**

> Rating: G  
> Warnings: None  
> Characters: Prompto Argentum, Gladiolus Amicitia, Aranea Highwind  
> Time Period: After the Dawn  
> Location: Insomnia, Leide, near Keycatrich Trench

Just because the sun had returned and the daemons were gone didn't mean that there weren't still dangers in the world. And they'd just had to have decided to resettle the ass end of Leide, up past the entrance to Keycatrich. Just had to choose that desolate wasteland, fraught with coeurl and other nasties. And what the hell were they thinking sending the blonde out alone? Gladio would never know. But when he heard the voice on the radio, he'd grabbed the nearest chocobo and hightailed it.

Now, tucked in against some ruins, Gladio cradled the broken and bleeding figure in his arms. He'd arrived, in taken the sight of Prompto, and known there was nothing he could do. Not now that potions and elixirs were a thing of the past. Without magic, all the burly warrior could do was offer as much comfort as his own two hands could provide, which, beyond an unhealthy dose of painkillers, wasn't much. "Hey... hey... come on, Prompto. Don't quit on me now." He thumbed the radio. "Aranea, where are you?"

Prompto coughed weakly, a raspy thready sound. "Sorry... big guy... don't think I've got a choice." The words were accompanied by a whistling sound, and Gladio's stomach flipped. He'd heard sounds like that before, and not once had the men who made that sound survived. Even if by some miracle he could have staunched the flow of blood, without an elixir...

The radio keyed, Aranea's cool voice edged with alarm. Of course she'd lost more than her share of men, but this was Prompto. Gladio knew what the blond meant to her, and what she would do for him. "Five minutes out, how is he?"

When Gladio looked down again, he saw that Prompto's gaze had wandered, drifting off somewhere around his right ear. Of he could just keep Prompto long enough for Aranea. Just for her. "Keep your eyes on me, chocobo butt," he said gruffly, cuffing the blond lightly to move his gaze back towards Gladio's face.

"Not... a chocobo... butt," Prompto protested faintly, lips trying to form that twisted smile he'd offered the last time Gladio had called him that. He was pale, growing paler by the second, and Gladio could feel the slow chill creeping through the younger man.

"How is he??"

"Just get here, Aranea," Gladio snapped at the radio, then reached down to press his hand against Prompto, realizing just how small Prompto was in comparison. His fingers nearly spanned the man's chest, and yet, they couldn't put him back together again.

The wheezing whistle struggled to turn into words. "Didn't... think... you'd outlive... me," there was another whistling rattling sound, and Gladio's heart wanted it to be Prompto's attempt at a weak laugh, but his head knew it was something far, far more painful than that.

"Shut up and keep your eyes on mine. Prompto, open your eyes." Sky blue had vanished, and Gladio slapped at Prompto's cheeks to try to get a response out of him. Other than a feeble sound, it didn't work.

The radio crackled into sound, Aranea's voice now clearly alarmed. "I have you in sight, how is he?"

"Open your damn eyes!" Gladio snarled as he slapped Prompto hard. _Just stay around for Aranea... just a few more minutes... please. Don't leave me to tell her alone. Keep fighting._

Blue eyes opened slowly, though Gladio could tell they weren't focused on him. "N... Noct?"

Precious minutes flew, and then the ruin shuddered at the heavy landing of the lance-wielder, and she released the weapon embedded in rock to take the quiet blond into her arms and bury her face in bloody hair, and she was weeping, and all Gladio could do was reach out to hold them both.

 

For a moment, the only thing he could see was white, but even that was slowly being overtaken by black fading in from the center outwards, and when his eyes finally /finally/ focused, Prompto realized he was seeing a very specific shade of black. "N... Noct?" His voice sounded strange, lighter.

"Heyas, you're finally awake? Come on, Luna and Ignis will eat all the ulwaat berries if we don't hurry."

The blue eyes of the dark-haired young man sparkled with mischief as he stood by the bedroom door, and Prompto felt a weight fall from him as he sat up and grinned. “Be there in a jiffy.”


End file.
